I’m kind of surprised surprised by the news, but as a first step to cut costs, fire John Dvorak.
Category: Media
NPR CEO Fired
There is some sort of weird shakeup going on at NPR.
I only hope that, in the end, it results in a reduced role for hacks Barbara Bradley Hagerty*, Mara Liasson, and Juan Williams.
Particularly Williams, who in addition to being a hack is the stupid beyond belief.
*She is in the pocket of the right wing Christian dominionist movement, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Simple Answers to Simple Questions
Duncan Black asks:
Does the Washington Post have a policy of only publishing complete morons?
Yes.
This has been another episode of simple answers to simple questions.
My Condolences to the People of Pennsylvania
With her victories in Ohio and Texas, Hillary Clinton is in through Pennsylvania, which means that he national political press is descending on your state like flies on……bad analogy, I do not mean to insult the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I used to live there.
How about Piranhas on a swimming cow…Better.
That being said, I have two thoughts, first that this is good, not bad, for the Democrats, the only major news that McCain can get from now until the Democratic nominee is decided is going to be bad news (the lobbyist thing and the bigot Hagee), while the Dems have a platform to put forward their ideas to an engaged publid.
My second thought is that I agree with Terry McCauliffe: Mark Penn should STFU. With every success, it’s Penn’s campaign, with every failure, he’s just an adviser.
I have to argue that his $10 million in fees has been money poorly spent.
How About Jenna and Tonic Bush Next?
Well, I assume that most of you know that England’s Prince Harry, 3rd in line to the throne, was serving secretly in Afghanistan, and that his cover was blown by Drudge.
Must be something with conservative media. They just love to break confidences for no good reason to put brave people in danger, like Plame and Novak.
Things You Do Not Expect Out of the WSJ Editorial Page
It should be noted that the WSJ dishonesty editorial page was one of the prime media outlets enabling this:
Extortion and money laundering are usually the province of gangsters, not Western Congressmen. That changed yesterday with the indictment of GOP Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona on charges that he used his seat on the House Natural Resources Committee to enrich himself through a trail of payoffs on land deals.
…
TNR Story on Internal NY Times Politics on McCain-Gate Story
Every now and then, The National Review does something worthwhile.
It’s an interesting snapshot of the internal processes of the Times, and it’s rumored that this story is what got them to publish the McCain story in the first place.
The real question is why the Times sat on it for 3 months, and I think that the answer is because they love that sick old man.
O’Reilly Suggests a “Lynching Party” for a Black Woman
Here.
Of course, the Long Island Klansman will get away with it.
Someone F*&^ed UP Big Time
I’m not a fan of Barack Obama, but this performance by Texas State Senator Kirk Watson is inexcusable.
When your supporters appear on any show, they should have a 3×5 card with some facts, and what you’ve done in the Senate should be one of them.
Well, this guy is going to be looking for work in the private sector.
Toshiba Throwing In Towel in Format Wars
Well, it looks like the nail in the coffin of my prediction regarding the format wars (see also here, here, here, here, here, and here), has been driven, we have reports that Toshiba will be ending production of HD-DVD players.
For my next prediction, George W. Bush will not be impeached.
If only my predilection towards erroneous prognostication worked that way.
How a Primary Attack Ad Should Be Done.
If the one of the Democratic campaign wants to do a real attack ad, against a primary opponent, in a perfect world, it should fulfill the following requirements:
- It should be the truth.
- It should address a real concern of Democratic voters.
- It should not be something that the Republicans can use against the target if they win the general.
So I was just kind of writing stream of consciousness, and came up with a Hillary Clinton attack ads against Barack Obama
I’d like to see what my readers think, and what ideas my readers have, so I am post dating this to Saturday Afternoon, to get comments.
On to the Ad:
(Cue sinister music, go with spot of gray on the screen, which will slowly pull back as the ad progresses and reveal itself to be a scary black and white picture of John McCain)
In 2002, John McCain said that the ads accusing Max Cleland, who lost one arm and both legs serving in the military, were “Worse than disgraceful”.Now John McCain has hired Bo Harmon, the man behind that ad campaign as his national political director.
We know that the Republicans will be throwing every lie and slander they can find against the Democratic Nominee, and we know that Barack Obama has never been in a seriously contested election against a Republican.
Over the past 16 years, the Republican swift boaters came after Hillary Clinton with accusations of everything except eating puppies, and she’s still standing.
The stakes are too high this November to take an audacious chance with your primary vote.
I’m thinking of trying to put this up on Youtube, after I improve the copy a bit.
You will notice that this is a devastating ad, but it gives the Republicans nothing to use in the general.
Economics Update
The Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority will stop making loans under the Michigan Alternative Student Loan, because it cannot raise money in the capital markets to lend out. You can see their notice here
Student loans are about as safe as it gets. You cannot discharge them through bankruptcy, and they are very safe, but no one is willing to buy the paper, both because the bond insurers are basically belly up, and because no one trusts anything.
In a similar vein, though more directly related to the bursting housing bubble, Freddie Mac cut nearly in half the size of its REMIC (Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits) issue, because it cannot find buyers.
And in the useful congressional hearings area, i.e. not Roger Clemens and steroids, we have hearings on the collapse of the bond insurers.
In another sign of a slowing economy, media company Belo corporation is showing a loss.
Part of this may be the fact that, and I speak from experience having experienced their flagship Dallas Morning News, that Belo is to journalism what Osama bin Laden is to wet t-shirt contests. When you have a crappy product, you get hammered.
Newspapers Reprint Mohammed Cartoon In Response to Terror Threats
Kurt Westergaard, the Danish artist who painted the picture of Mohammad having a bomb for a turban, was the target of an assassination conspiracy which was uncovered yesterday.
In response, newspapers across Europe have reprinted his cartoon.
Good for them. This is an issue of free speech, and the right to free speech includes the right to be an asshole without fear of violence or death.
For what it’s worth, I do find this cartoon offensive and bigoted:
But the idea that it merits death threats, or for that matter actual conspiracies to assassinate, is repugnant to any civilized people.
The freedom of speech includes the freedom to blaspheme.
By way of example:
I would expect that this would get me called a bigoted asshole, but anyone who thinks that it rates death, and has the inclination to act on it, needs to be removed from free society.
Michael Ramirez is In Pain
And I laugh at his pain. This guy is a right wing asshole.
Economics Update
First, it appears that the current credit crisis is now being recognized by some media outlets, such as the New York Times, as not being limited to subprime borrowers. Of course the story misses the fact that it’s not just mortgages, and the story that they use to illustrate the problem is a, “a computer engineer at Lockheed Martin who makes a six-figure income and had a stellar credit score in 2004, when he refinanced his home in Northern California to take cash out to pay for his daughter’s college tuition”, who is the last person we should think of bailing out.
He understood the issue, and took the loan anyway.
As to the general, and ongoing, credit meltdown, we have yet another New York Times story, this leading off with Sailfish Capital Partners, a hedge fund that is being liquidated.
The pair, both fixed-income specialists, quickly raised $1 billion for their flagship multi-strategy fixed-income fund, according to investor documents. Assets grew steadily, reaching $1.2 billion by the end of 2005 and $1.5 billion by the end of 2006, when the fund returned more than 12 percent. In July, the fund sat atop almost $2 billion, and exhibited relatively low volatility — a key factor for institutional investors.
But July proved treacherous. As the credit markets seized up, Sailfish owned seemingly safe top-rated investments, including mortgage investments, that suddenly plummeted in value.
Illiquidity will get worse, and this is one of what will be many stories,
And then we have Warren Buffet offering to buy the good assets of the bond inurers and so give them a capital injection (see also Also here).
Basically, he wants to buy the good stuff for pennies, and leave the sh%$pile for the monoliners to deal for later. Buffet ain’t dumb, this is thinking vulture capitalism.
We are starting to see adulatory coverage of the (very boring, but generally safe)municipal bond market, though I wonder what happens to resale value of the bonds if the monoliners go belly up before Jimmy Warren Buffet gets his hands on those assets.
Finally, we have the federal budget deficit more than doubling, which means that we have to borrow even more foreign money and more downward pressure on the dollar.
WYPR and Marc Steiner, the Saga Continues
While I’d like to know what is going on, if just for my own selfish voyeuristic edification, my initial reaction is that this is typical public radio bull#$@! politics. If someone wants to enlighten me, feel free.
In perusing the pages of WYPR and Marc Steiner’s blog, it appears that things are not developing in a kind manner regarding the cancellation of his show.
The President’s message about the cancellation has been updated so that it actually mentions the name “Marc Steiner”, and Steiner has a blog post suggesting that WYPR is attempting to minimize public input, and another which mentions that he’s hired on one of his WYPR producers has been hired on to his production company, The Center for Emerging Media.
In the middle of all this, WYPR has pushed back its membership drive from February to April, largely, I think, in the hope of it all blowing over.
David Shuster Initially Defended the “Pimped” Statement
If you think that the video I posted of David Shuster’s “Pimping Chelsea” comment seemed to show an insincere apology, the email exchange with the Clinton campaign confirms that he was even less sincere than his bull%$#@ “If anyone was offended” faux apology.
A bit of the exchange, (Philippe Reines is a Clinton adviser):
From: David Shuster
To: Philippe Reines
Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 9:29 p.m.No. That’s not what I’m saying. And if you bothered to look at the transcript and saw all of the glowing things I said about chelsea and the way she was raised, you would know that.
The issue is not her making calls. As + said on the air, I have no problems with that what so ever. The issue is not her refusing interviews. The issue is that the campaign has come down hard on reporters who merely sought to ask chelsea questions. You can’t have it both ways. Reporters have long respected the clintons desire that we avoid chelsea and let her have her space. But to get angry at reporters seeking to talk to her now is patently unfair. And you know that.
Honestly, this crap starts with Russert, who clearly hates the Clintons, and reaches a crescendo with Chris Matthews, though it appears that Shuster, who is twice the journalist of Matthews, and three times the journalist of Russert, will take the fall.
I Do Not Think That This is Political Posturing
Last night, on MSNBC, David Shuster asked if Chelsea Clinton campaigning on behalf of her mom meant that she was, “being pimped” by the campaign.
The Clinton Campaign has apparently gone completely batsh#$ insane over this, even though he apologized this morning.
Shuster’s still a wanker, though.
This is not about politics. This is about who the Clintons are. They have always been fiercely protective of her.
BTW, Shuster has been suspended from all NBC broadcasts.
A Deathwatch From the Man Who Knows Deathwatches Better than Any Other
Marc Andreessen, the guy who used the Mosaic code to create Netscape.
blog.pmarca.com: Inaugurating the New York Times Deathwatch
What the Hell is She Thinking?
It appears that Hillary Clinton has accepted an offer to debate on Fox News.
Stupid.
Then again, Barack Obama appeared on Fox and Friends. Also stupid.